Content identifiers triggering corresponding responses through collaborative processing

• US 7,302,574 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2001
• Issued: 11/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Conwell, William Y., Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Bradley, Brett A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Song; Hosuk
• Application Number:
  US09/888,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20020028000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,350 Days
• Field of Search: 380200-204, 380/217, 380/229, 380236-238, 380/247, 380/270, 380/54, 713/176, 713200-201, 713/161, 705/51, 705 57- 59, 382/100, 382115-119, 382/124, 726/27, 726 30- 32
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/005 Robust watermarking, e.g. average attack or collusion attack resistant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0065 Extraction of an embedded watermark; Reliable detection
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0034 using watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/041 File watermark, i.e. embedding a hidden code in an electrophonic musical instrument file or stream for identification or authentification purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/061 MP3, i.e. MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, lossy audio compression
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/135 Library retrieval index, i.e. using an indexing scheme to efficiently retrieve a music piece
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2250/311 Neural networks for electrophonic musical instruments or musical processing, e.g. for musical recognition or control, automatic composition or improvisation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00007 Time or data compression or expansion audio compression based on psychoacoustics G10L19/00; data processing for reproducing audio data at different playback speeds G10L21/04; video compression H04N19/00; data compression per se H03M7/30
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00891 embedded in audio data
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00005 relating to image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00037 Detecting, i.e. determining the occurrence of a predetermined state H04N1/00031 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00973 from a remote device, e.g. receiving via the internet instructions input to a computer terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32229 with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected regions of the image H04N1/32213 takes precedence

Abstract

Fingerprint data derived from audio or other content is used as an identifier. The fingerprint data can be derived from the content. In one embodiment, fingerprint data supplied from two or more sources is aggregated. The aggregated fingerprint data is used to define a set of audio signals. An audio signal from the set of audio signals is selected based on its probability of matching the fingerprint data. Digital watermarks can also be similarly used to define a set of audio signals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

aggregating first fingerprint data and second fingerprint data, wherein fingerprint data comprises at least a reduced-bit representation of content, and wherein the first fingerprint data originated at a first source and the second fingerprint data originated at second source, and wherein the first source and the second source are remotely located;

identifying information associated with the first fingerprint data and the second fingerprint data; and

determining a subset of the associated information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining is based at least in part on a frequency occurrence of the subset, and wherein the frequency occurrence comprises a vote tally.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining is based at least in part on a frequency occurrence of the subset, and wherein the subset comprises at least one of audio, video, or image data.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the associated information comprises at least one of audio, video or image data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said aggregating comprises aggregating fingerprint data within a predetermined time period.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first fingerprint data comprises a first set of audio fingerprints, and wherein the second fingerprint data comprises a second set of audio fingerprints.

7. A method to match a song based on an audio fingerprint, said method comprising:

aggregating a first set of audio fingerprints provided by a first device with a second set of audio fingerprints provided by a remotely located second device;

determining a plurality of songs relating to the aggregated fingerprints; and

selecting a song from the plurality of songs based on a number of times a selected song matches the aggregated fingerprints.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the selected song includes the highest number of matches.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data; and

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said comparing comprises selecting a subset from the associated information based on a vote tally.

19. The method according to claim 9, wherein when a comparison of the second fingerprint data with the associated information does not identify a subset of the associated data, said method further comprises querying a second database to determine additional associated information.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data; and

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information, wherein said comparing comprises selecting a subset from the associated information based on a vote tally, and wherein the vote tally includes probabilities of a match with the second fingerprint data, and wherein the selected subset has a highest probability of a match.

12. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data; and

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information, wherein a user device generates the second fingerprint data.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data, wherein a cell phone generates the second fingerprint data; and

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data, wherein a user device generates the second fingerprint data;

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information; and

determining a geographical location of the user device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the user device comprises a cell phone, and wherein the geographical location of the user device is determined by at least one of area code, cell site, device identifier, repeater identifier, or alpha-numeric data.

16. A method comprising:

receiving a signal from a first broadcast source at a reference receiver;

generating first fingerprint data from the received signal;

applying the first fingerprint data to a database to select associated information;

receiving second fingerprint data;

comparing the second fingerprint data with the associated information;

receiving a signal from a second broadcast source at the reference receiver;

generating third fingerprint data from the received signal of the second broadcast source; and

applying the third fingerprint data to the database to select associated information.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the reference receiver comprises a plurality of receivers.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein at least a first receiver of the plurality of receivers and a second receiver of the plurality of receivers are located in different geographical locations.

20. A method comprising:

receiving a signal front a first broadcast source at a reference receiver, the signal comprising an embedded digital watermark;

decoding the digital watermark to obtain a plural-bit identifier;

interrogating a database with the identifier to identify a set of fingerprints associated with the received signal;

receiving second fingerprint data; and

comparing the second fingerprint data with the set of fingerprints.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said comparing comprises selecting a subset from the set of fingerprints based on a vote tally.

22. A method comprising:

cumulating a first set of representations of audio or video with a second set of representations of audio or video, wherein the representations comprise reduced-bit representations of audio or video, and wherein the first set of representations are provided from a first device and the second set of representations are provided from a second device;

determining a plurality of audio and video content relating to the cumulated sets; and

selecting a set of audio or video content from the plurality of audio or video content based on a number of times a selected set of audio and video content corresponds with the cumulated sets.

23. A method comprising:

receiving content, wherein the content comprises an embedded digital watermark;

decoding the digital watermark to obtain a plural-bit identifier;

deriving a reduced-bit representation of the content;

accessing a database with at least the plural-bit identifier; and

using at least the reduced-bit representation of the content to help identify or authenticate the content.